Your home can stress you out, or it can put your mind at ease. The difference: Making a plan for peace.

Think about the ways your home stresses you out. A cluttered room means you can’t find things when you need them. Appliances and an air conditioning system that break down just at the wrong time can spoil your weekend plans.

You’ve already done Step 1 of your plan: Identify the stressors. Second step: Head them off.

Here are eight ways you can plan for a home that hums along without much trouble and that actually surrounds you with feelings of comfort and calm.

1. Do regular maintenance on anything that moves: motors, flowing water, things you open and close.

Few things are more stressful than a broken-down air conditioning system when it’s 110 degrees outside, a malfunctioning pool pump on the day you’re hosting the neighborhood barbeque, or a refrigerator that goes belly-up just as you carry an ice cream cake into the house for your child’s birthday party.

Avoid those mishaps by having appliances, your home’s “systems” and the plumbing inspected and serviced regularly. Preventing calamities is far less stressful than dealing with them—and it’s usually less expensive, too.

2. Likewise, don’t wait for an appliance to break down before replacing it, and don’t wait for a small problem to become an emergency before repairing it.

A slow-leaking faucet in the guest room is usually a quick and simple to fix—unless you don’t get around to it before your in-laws are on their way to spend the weekend at your house and you can’t find your wrench. Washing machines are good for around 10 years—so it should come as no surprise when your 15-year-old model goes on the fritz just as you fill it with your daughter’s ballet costume an hour before she needs to wear it.

3. Take advantage of the natural stress-relievers in the Arizona landscape.

Position the desk or table where you pay your bills near a window, so you can look outside while you’re filling them out. Studies show that stress and depression go hand-in-hand with a lack of natural light.

Add skylights to top-floor rooms to let our abundant light flood indoors. A tip: Equip your skylights with retractable sunscreens so you can keep the heat out but let some of the light in.

Similarly, add more electric lights around the house. You’ll have less trouble seeing, reading and tripping over stuff if your home is well-lighted.

4. Install a security system. Especially if your northern Arizona home sits empty for part of the year, you might feel more confident knowing someone is keeping an eye on your place. Even year-round residents are warming up to alarm systems, keypad door locks and Internet-based systems that let you check on the house while you’re away at work or on a weekend jaunt.

5. Trick out the shower in your master bathroom with body sprays, an extra shower head or a spa jets in the bathtub. Even if you only indulge in an at-home spa experience every now and then, you’ll know it’s waiting for you if you need it.

6. Paint the walls of your bathroom and bedroom a calming shade of blue or turquoise. Soft, neutral colors invite you to relax, while brights—especially reds—tend to stimulate.

7. Create a stress-free zone in your home. Choose a room or at least a corner of a room where there’s no phone, no computer, no TV, no video games and as little noise as possible. Decorate it just for you, with photos and knick-knacks that make you remember happy times. If your “zone” has a door, even better. Go inside and close the door.

8. When you need help with maintenance, repairs, decorating, painting or otherwise putting your plan for peace in place, hire people with solid credentials, good reputations and high recommendations from people you trust. There’s absolutely no need to let anyone into your house if he or she makes you nervous.